Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 with the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces an extraordinary performance profile that is heavily dictated by resolution and settings. The data shows this combination ranks 140th out of 3719 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 4% of all systems. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high that they approach the practical limits of competitive play, while at 4K Ultra, the system still delivers well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. The bottleneck analysis reveals a clear shift: at lower resolutions, the CPU becomes the limiting factor, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU workload increases enough to rebalance the system.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a dramatic scaling curve that is characteristic of a CPU-bound title at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces 738 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops this to 493 FPS, a reduction of 33.2%. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 276 FPS, which is 62.6% lower than the 1080p result. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4090 is not being fully utilized at 1080p; the Ryzen 5 8400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads are the primary constraint, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames faster than the CPU can feed it.

The scaling pattern changes significantly when comparing High and Ultra presets. At 1920x1080 High, the average is 462 FPS, which drops to 306 FPS at 2560x1440 High (a 33.8% reduction) and then to 171 FPS at 3840x2160 High (a 63.0% reduction from 1080p). These percentage drops are nearly identical to the Low preset scaling, which suggests that the limiting component remains the CPU even at High settings across all resolutions. The GPU is only pushed to its limits when the Ultra preset is applied, where the 4K result of 133 FPS represents a 62.9% drop from the 1080p Ultra score of 359 FPS.

The most telling data point for understanding the bottleneck is the gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 379 FPS (738 vs 359), which is a 51.4% reduction in performance when moving from Low to Ultra. At 1440p, the same comparison shows a 255 FPS difference (493 vs 238), a 51.7% reduction. At 4K, the gap narrows to 143 FPS (276 vs 133), a 51.8% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across resolutions indicates that the RTX 4090 is scaling predictably with the increased graphical load, but the absolute FPS values remain extremely high, confirming that this game is not GPU-bound at any tested configuration.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this CPU-GPU combination?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 738, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this system in Counter-Strike 2, limited by the Ryzen 5 8400F’s single-thread performance rather than the RTX 4090’s rendering capabilities.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 8400F has an average benchmark score of 25005, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24964), 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935), 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i7-13620H (24911), and 0.4% lower than the AMD EPYC 9474F (25103). These are all extremely close scores, indicating that the 8400F is competitive with these processors in general compute workloads.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 the bottleneck at 1080p resolution?

A: No. The data indicates the opposite. At 1920x1080 Low, the system produces 738 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it still produces 276 FPS. The fact that the 4K Low result is 62.6% lower than 1080p Low, while the GPU has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, suggests the CPU cannot keep up with the GPU’s frame generation capability at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play based on the data?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings provides the highest average FPS at 738, which would give the lowest input latency and the smoothest experience for competitive play. However, even at 3840x2160 High, the system maintains 171 FPS, which is still above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors.

Q: How does the RTX 4090’s performance in this game compare to its synthetic benchmark percentile?

A: The RTX 4090 has a percentile rank of 88 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. In Counter-Strike 2, the system’s 1080p Low score of 738 FPS is exceptionally high, but the game’s engine is known to favor high-frequency CPUs, which likely explains why the GPU’s percentile ranking does not directly translate to the game’s FPS numbers.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 348, with an average of 410 and a maximum of 471. This indicates that the frame time variance is relatively low, providing a stable experience even in demanding scenes.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the best balance between visual quality and frame rate, the data strongly supports the Medium preset at any resolution. At 1920x1080 Medium, the system delivers 619 FPS average with a minimum of 526 FPS, which is only 119 FPS lower than Low but provides significantly better visual fidelity. The 2560x1440 Medium setting produces 410 FPS average with a 348 FPS minimum, which is still far above the 240 Hz refresh rate that many competitive monitors offer. Even at 3840x2160 Medium, the average FPS of 229 with a minimum of 195 FPS ensures that the experience remains smooth on high-refresh-rate 4K displays.

The High preset offers diminishing returns relative to Medium. At 1080p, High produces 462 FPS, which is 157 FPS lower than Medium (619 FPS). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 104 FPS (306 vs 410). At 4K, High drops to 171 FPS, which is 58 FPS lower than Medium (229 FPS). The Ultra preset should be avoided for competitive play, as it reduces the 1080p average to 359 FPS and the 4K average to 133 FPS, which may fall below the refresh rate of some high-end monitors.

For players who prioritize maximum frame rates above all else, the Low preset at 1080p (738 FPS) or 1440p (493 FPS) is the recommended choice. However, the Medium preset provides a more balanced experience, with the 1440p Medium result of 410 FPS average being particularly attractive for those who want both high refresh rates and improved visuals. The data indicates that the RTX 4090 has enough headroom that even the Medium preset at 4K (229 FPS) exceeds the refresh rate of most current displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows a clear hierarchy across settings. The Low preset achieves the highest average FPS at 738. Medium follows with 619 FPS average, with a minimum of 526 and a maximum of 712. High produces 462 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 359 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra is 379 FPS, which represents a 51.4% performance penalty for enabling the highest visual settings.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges but with lower absolute values. Low delivers 493 FPS average. Medium produces 410 FPS average, with a minimum of 348 and a maximum of 471. High reaches 306 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 238 FPS average. The difference between Low and Ultra is 255 FPS, or 51.7% of the Low score. The Medium preset’s minimum of 348 FPS is notably higher than the Ultra average of 238 FPS, highlighting the significant cost of Ultra settings.

At 3840x2160, the system remains highly capable but shows more pronounced differences. Low produces 276 FPS average. Medium delivers 229 FPS average, with a minimum of 195 and a maximum of 263. High drops to 171 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 133 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra is 143 FPS, or 51.8% of the Low score. The Medium preset’s minimum of 195 FPS is particularly notable, as it ensures that the frame rate never drops below the 144 Hz threshold, even in demanding scenes.

The data also reveals that the Medium preset consistently provides the most stable frame times, as it is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum values. At 1080p Medium, the variance between minimum (526) and maximum (712) is 186 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the variance is 123 FPS (348 to 471). At 4K Medium, the variance is 68 FPS (195 to 263). This decreasing variance with increasing resolution suggests that the CPU bottleneck becomes less pronounced as the GPU workload increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a dominant force in this configuration, with 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, which is more than sufficient for any resolution tested in Counter-Strike 2. The GPU’s boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz are the highest in the GeForce 40-series, and the data shows that these specifications are not the limiting factor in most tested scenarios.

The RTX 4090’s percentile rank of 88 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347, indicates that it is one of the most powerful graphics cards available. However, in Counter-Strike 2, the GPU’s raw compute power is not fully exercised at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 738 FPS average suggests that the GPU could potentially render even more frames if the CPU could provide them. At 4K Ultra, the 133 FPS average shows that the GPU is finally being pushed to a meaningful extent, but even this result is far from the card’s theoretical maximum.

The GPU’s memory configuration is also noteworthy. With 24 GB of VRAM, there is no risk of running out of memory at any of the tested settings, even at 4K Ultra. The GDDR6X memory running at 21 Gbps effective provides ample bandwidth for the game’s textures and geometry. The data shows that the RTX 4090 is never the primary bottleneck in this game, as the FPS scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution is consistent, suggesting that the GPU is always able to keep pace with the CPU’s frame delivery.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F serves as the primary limiting factor in this configuration, despite its respectable specifications. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, the CPU has a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core are adequate for gaming, but the single-thread performance is what matters most for Counter-Strike 2’s engine.

The CPU’s synthetic benchmark scores provide context for its gaming performance. The 3DMark single-thread score is 951, and the Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2943. These scores place the 8400F in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25005. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, scores 24964, which is only 0.2% lower. This close competition indicates that the 8400F is a solid mid-range processor, but it cannot match the frame delivery of higher-end CPUs in CPU-bound scenarios.

The evidence for the CPU bottleneck is clear when examining the 1080p Low vs 4K Low results. At 1080p Low, the system produces 738 FPS, but at 4K Low, it produces 276 FPS. This 62.6% reduction is primarily due to the increased GPU workload, but the fact that the CPU cannot push higher frame rates at 1080p is evident from the 738 FPS ceiling. The CPU’s 12 threads and 4.70 GHz boost clock are not sufficient to fully saturate the RTX 4090’s rendering capabilities at lower resolutions, which is why the frame rates do not scale linearly with the GPU’s compute power. The data suggests that a more powerful CPU would yield higher FPS at 1080p, while the RTX 4090 would remain underutilized regardless.